Central to the biblical narrative is the creative and redemptive power of the Word of God. God calls both the old and new creation into existence by means of his efficacious word (creatio per verbum). This is why Oswald Bayer, in his exposition of Luther’s doctrine of creation has argued that creation itself is a form of justification.[1] In calling creation into existence, God judicially affirms its status and identity as his good creation. Moreover, just as Christians are justified and sanctified by the work of the Word and the Spirt (Jn. 3:5, Eph. 5:26), so too creation comes about by way of God speaking his Word in the power of the Spirit: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host” (Ps. 33:6). As Luther observes in his Genesis commentary, this makes creatures created words in analogy to God’s eternal created Word: “By speaking, God created all things and worked through his Word. All his works are words of God, created by the uncreated Word.”[2]
Much like human words, God’s Word possesses a number of different dimensions. Scriptures speak of God’s will and reality as being revealed by his Word. Indeed, the idea of the Word of God as the “testimony” of God’s previous creative and redemptive acts is of central importance in the Bible (Ps. 71:15-18, 119:46, 2 Tim. 1:8, 1 Jn. 1:1-4, Rev. 12:11).[3] In John’s Gospel, Jesus is consistently described as the true and eternal Word of God because he reveals and represents the Father (Jn. 14:9). Luther in his own writings referred to this dimension of the divine Word as “Call-Words” (Heissel-Wort).[4] Call-words are signifiers that signify states of affairs are already an actuality.
The second dimension of God’s Word is its efficacious nature. The word functions in such a way so as not merely to testify to states of affairs that already are actualized (testimony), but to call into existence new realities. Luther called this phenomenon “Deed-Words” (Thettel-Wort).[5] God calls creation into existence (Gen. 1), Jesus heals by his word, and the word of the disciples forgives and binds sins because of Jesus’ divine promise and command (Jn. 20). Human language functions analogously when effective statements are made such as: “I pronounce you man and wife” or “I bestow this office upon you.” This efficacious quality of language is what is encompassed in what modern speech-act theory has parsed into the categories of “Illocutionary” and “Perlocutionary” speech.[6]
[1] Bayer, Martin Luther’s Theology, 95-101.
[2] LW 1:47. See discussion in Bayer’s description of Luther’s position in “Creation as Speech Act.” Bayer, Martin Luther’s Theology, 101-5.
[3] Gerhard von Rad described this as the theme of “Recitation.” See Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology: Single Volume Edition, 2 vols. trans. D. M. G. Stalker (Peabody, Mass: Prince Press, 2005).
[4] David Steinmetz, “Luther and the Two Kingdoms,” in Luther in Context (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1986), 115.
[5] See LW 37:180-88 for Luther on the different dimensions of the word. On Luther’s position, David Steinmetz writes:“Luther draws a distinction between two kinds of words in order to make clear what the Bible means when it speaks of the Word of God. There is, of course the Heissel-Wort, the Call-Word, the word which people use when they apply names to things which already exist. The biblical story of Adam in the garden is a fine example of this. He names all the biblical creatures. He does not create them; he only sorts them out and gives them labels. But there is a second kind of word, the Thettel-Wort or Deed-Word, which not only names but effects what it signifies. Adam looks around him and says, “There is a cow and an owl and a horse and a mosquito.” But God looks around him and says, “Let there be light,” and there is light.” Steinmetz, “Luther and the Two Kingdoms,” 115.
[6] See J. L. Austin, How to do Things with Words (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975).
From the draft manuscript for Jack D. Kilcrease, Justification by Word (Lexham Press, forthcoming).